Over the past year, The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada confirmed more than $3 million in penalties against casino-sector organizations nationwide.
A startup based in B.C. is developing proprietary software that targets compliance concerns for an increasingly scrutinized online gambling sector.
Fortrix Systems, situated on Dewdney Trunk Road in Maple Ridge, has launched technology that helps lottery and gaming organizations independently verify what’s happening across their operations.
Chief executive officer Kira Summers points to an example: A patron buys in with $6,000 in cash at one venue and $5,000 at another, both run by the same organization, on the same day. Neither amount reaches FINTRAC’s $10,000 reporting threshold, so neither site sees anything to report.
“Most of these findings aren’t about people ignoring their obligations,” says Summers. “The compliance teams I’ve worked with take them seriously.”
The trouble, according to Summers, “is that information sits in different systems, and the evidence is hard to pull together when an examiner asks for it.”
Lottery and gaming programs run in a “high-trust environment where certainty is not optional.” In a complex, multi-party environment, Fortrix Systems exists to create simplicity and reliability.
The firm’s software brings together information from casinos, lottery systems, online platforms, and suppliers a gaming organization relies on, then identifies activity that needs a closer look, all while keeping a record of what happened, when, and how it was handled.
The basis of the technology is the startup’s Internal Control System, which Summers says works alongside existing gaming technology rather than replacing it.
Anti-money laundering software monitors transaction patterns, applies relevant FINTRAC rules, helps compliance teams investigate unusual activity, and prepares and validates regulatory reports for audits.
“That’s the part technology should fix,” Summers said.
Fortrix Systems was founded in 2024.
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